Pansy

Pansy is a tiny little purple 'bent that folds into a suicase for easy transportation. She was made just for me by Green Gear Cycling in Eugene, Oregon. They make many folders such as Bike Friday, Air Friday, tandems called Bike Twos Day and the recumbent called SatRDay.

Hanz Scholz chose light weight tubing for Pansy.
He started with a small frame and modified the boom to fit me. To date Green Gear has made 4 booms for her in order to "get it right". The exciting thing to me, however, is the fact that they, indeed, DID get it right. Pansy has a very short wheelbase and turns on a dime. She handles beautifully when loaded for touring.

I use two medium size rear panniers. I travel very light. Panniers and tote bag (for shopping and lunch) weigh in under 20 pounds including my eBook and handheld computer. The purists would scorn the high tech gizmos, but I ran out of reading material in France in 1999 and almost succumbed from "book withdrawal". I am determined that it shall never happen again so I carry a little electronic gadget about the size of a small hardcover that holds over 30 novels.

Since the bottle racks are on the back of the seat, I use a camelback to carry water and tools. This Pansy is so bright is takes the place of a tail light.

Pansy is all packed into her case ready to go to Austria. I am new to packing her so it takes me about 2hours to pack for a trip. It takes about 1 hour to pack to come home as I have recently been through the drill.

Pansy no longer lives here. When I started falling over

going up hill, she went to live in Michigan.